Excellent film. The first half hour prefigures the trilogy to follow whilst the remainder becomes more focussed on the protagonist. The final shot of his face tells me he will be scarred by his experiences. The audio is much better than on THE RED & THE WHITE. The camerawork is predictably outstanding. Well done SR for releasing this hard-to-see film from a master director. I'm looking foreward to THE ROUND-UP but MARKETA will keep me happy until then. (I'm still hoping you will put some of Schorm's films soon too.)

A very big thumbs up for this - I preferred it to the rather dispassionate The Red and the White (a film that I suspect really badly needs the big screen for the intended impact), and the picture is miles better.

The source print is in really startlingly good condition (not quite flawless, but damn close) considering its age and nationality, and the anamorphic transfer does it full justice.

Is the Second Run version of My Way Home an improvement over the Clavis version or are they about the same quality? I am debating whether to double-dip.

DVD Beaver didn't do a direct comparison, but in their review of the SR disc, they state, "This is a very good transfer probably akin to the French version."

I just got the SR disc and was very impressed by both the film itself, and the quality of the presentation. As stated by others in this thread, it's infinitely superior to their treatment of THE RED AND THE WHITE. And the documentary, Message of Stones, is slow but fascinating, definitely worth a watch if you're a Jansco admirer, and as far as I know, it's not on the Clavis disc.

This is a very nice print--I really liked the image quality, especially in the wide shots.

Before seeing the film, I expected it to remind me of the Odyssey (protagonist captured while returning home from war), but that expectation fell apart while watching the film. This leads to one question, though: what's the significance of those Greek-style statues they find? The only thing I could think of was the boys' youth an naivete because they don't seem to care after they shatter one of the statues.

What's striking about My Way Home is the seeming isolation of the place where the boys watch over the cows. Occasional bands of people wander through the area, none of them staying very long, and the environs seem rather vast and inhospitable. I think it's obvious that others must live nearby (for example, the female swimmers), but the camera just shows vast expanses devoid of human settlements. Jansco creates an almost imaginary, idyllic space where the rest of the world is only an infrequent intruder.

That said, the outside world can become surprisingly threatening when it does intrude. This idyllic space is one in which power relationships become unpredictable and even reversed (for example, the Hungarian boy could leave, but chooses not to because it would get the Kolya in trouble; the concentration camp survivors become threatening and begin to accost the Hungarian). I don't really know where to go with this, other than to ask: if this is "my way home," what constitutes "home" by the logic of the film?

Finally got round to this. Can't believe it's taken me so long (it came out Oct 2007).

Absolutely LOVED it. I've seen 7-8 later Jancso films and I'm mesmerised by everything of his that I've seen. To finally see his debut, and see this raw, confident, rigorous talent drop from the sky almost fully-formed was a royal treat. Such a fresh, clever director -- it could have been made next year...

A very important release, and a great looking disc.

I hope the Jancso Q&As up and down the land are packed out later this month.

To finally see his debut, and see this raw, confident, rigorous talent drop from the sky almost fully-formed was a royal treat.

It was his third feature, not his debut - Clavis released his second, Cantata (1963). We're unlikely to see his very first, The Bells Have Gone To Rome (1958) as I believe he's more or less disowned it.

re: CANTATA. Found this on imdb: "Jancsó often said, that Antonioni's LA NOTTE (1961) was his biggest influence while making this movie."

Cantata has glimmerings of Jancso's later grandeur towards the end when it gets out of doors, but the rest of it is relatively standard 'alienated European professional ennui.' Sub-Antonioni - and sub-Schorm, for that matter (still holding my breath for Second Run to tackle Return of the Prodigal Son).

But My Way Home, even though it doesn't fully reflect Jancso's mature style, is just brilliant, and much more individual than the previous film.

Watched this again last night in anticipation of the upcoming Curzon screenings/Q&As. A terrific film, humane and perfectly paced, with a superb transfer (easily one of Second Run's best). I agree with zedz that Jancso's "mature" style is still somewhat embryonic here, as his predilection for fluid long takes has yet to be integrated into the full-blown sequence shot style that makes The Red and the White and Red Psalm so jawdropping (as well as, from what I gather, The Round-Up - presently salivating at the prospect of this in 35mm).

Having waited about 3 weeks for my copy of this film to arrive in the post (from a rather unsupportive, foul mouthed Amazon-Marketplace Bozo), I eagerly opened the case to discover my dvd, had rather mischievously come out of it's support and was sliding around inside. Inspecting the disc, it was a bit scuffed here and there, but not too bad overall. I put it into my dvd player, and was met by a rather loud grumbling sound, much like from a motor or an engine, which continued on into the DVD menu, and further, carried on into the first chapter of the movie before slowly dying down and disappearing (the second chapter onwards is completely grumble-motor free).

To be honest, the sound really isn't problematic (a few Optimum discs have had similar sounds - almost identically with Election: Vol. 2), particularly since it dies away before the 2nd chapter (and is totally non existent in Message of Stones), however, I was hoping someone could tell me if this is purely an irregularity on my disc, or as a result of the scuffing from it's being knocked about or if this is just the way it's been authored and another dvd would only give the same result. I've looked over dvdbeaver, and a few other reviews, and none have mentioned this noise (although gary has also pointed out a few Optimum releases have been like this). As I pointed out, it's not something that particularly annoy's me, but, I would like to own the title as it should be seen, and not a dodgy one if that is the case.

Yeah, I had exactly the same problem, and had to watch the disc on a different DVD player (although there was no problem on my laptop). The only other time that this has happened to me was with a couple of discs from Optimum's Cassavetes set. Any idea why?

I actually went and tried My Way Home in a second player, and after a minute or two of engine noise, i was met simply by a "bad disc" message....although, i won't take this too literally, it's very temperamental even at the best of times.

Foggy Eyes, absolutley. I had the same issue with...I think...Shadows and Faces from the Optimum Cassavetes Set. I remember reading a long time ago, someone stating that Optimum were at the forefront of producing "noisy" DVDs, however, i don't believe they had an accurate reasoning for this, it was more of a statement. And in all honesty, I can't recall any distributor other than Optimum and this one Second Run Disc (I have 13 other Second Run DVDs and they are noiseless and all work wonderfully in both of my dvd players) having this problem.

A belated reply, bigP, but I had the exact same problem. It took about ten minutes for the 'motor' noise to eventually stop. I took the disc out of the player, and tried again several days later with the same results, but after the noise stopped, the disc played like any other. I dunno what it could be, either.

Re: the amazon marketplace Bozo. I just order directly from SR, and the discs have always arrived unscathed. Plus they don't charge shipping (although the exchange rate is a killer!).

I'm really intrigued as to why this happens. It happens so rarely, and despite saying that Optimum discs have had this problem in the past, I'd still state that it's a rarity for them...I own maybe 15-20 Optimum discs, and only 3 or 4 have produced this noise. My only guess is that the make of disc that was used just isn't gelling well with certain players.

Oh well, at least I don't have to deal with that Amazon Marketplace person again (it's what i get for going with someone i've not used before to save a few pennies), and a slight vibration sound under 10 minutes of My Way Home shan't ruin the movie for me.

Those with noisy players on the discs in questions -- what make of DVD player do you all have?

Phillips DVP-5140. I've watched ten SR films on this player and My Way Home is the only one so far where this happens. I'm not terribly concerned because it does eventually stop, but I worry at least a little that playing the disc is somehow damaging the player itself.